This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.
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THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT
MIM Notes 173 NOVEMBER 1, 1998
MIM Notes speaks to and from the viewpoint of the
world's oppressed majority, and against the
imperialist-patriarchy. Pick it up and wield it in
the service of the people. support it, struggle
with it and write for it.
IN THIS ISSUE:
1. MASSACHUSETTS OPENS NEW SUPERMAX PRISON TO INCREASE
CONTROL
2. AGAINST OPPRESSIVE AMERIKAN PRISONS?
DON'T VOTE! BUILD RAIL! BUILD MIM!
3. SOCIAL DEMOCRACY:
IDEOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL PROP OF IMPERIALISM
4. LETTERS
5. FIGHT CONTINUED SETTLER NATION CAMPAIGN OF GENOCIDE!
LUBICON CREE VICTORIES HIGHLIGHTED DURING IPD EVENT
6. INTER-IMPERIALIST RIVALRY HITS THE FRONT PAGES
7. STARR REPORT ON IMPEACHMENT IS PORNOGRAPHY
8. OPPOSE IMPERIALISM AND BUILD SOCIALIST REVOLUTION!
9. CANDIDATES FOR MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR PROMOTE FAILED
STRATEGIES ON CRIME
10. FBI WATCH:
PIGS GET GREATER SPYING POWER
FBI LAUNCHES NETWORK OF STATE DNA PRISONER DATABASES
FBI SPIED ON MARX
11. REPRESSION OF MASSES IN INDIA'S JAILS
12. UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS
* * *
WHAT IS MIM?
The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is a
revolutionary communist party that upholds
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, comprising the collection
of existing or emerging Maoist internationalist
parties in the English-speaking imperialist
countries and their English-speaking internal
semi-colonies, as well as the existing or emerging
Spanish-speaking Maoist internationalist parties
of Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of
the U.S. Empire. MIM Notes is the newspaper of
MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish-
speaking parties or emerging parties of MIM.
MIM is an internationalist organization that works
from the vantage point of the Third World
proletariat; thus, its members are not Amerikans,
but world citizens.
MIM struggles to end the oppression of all groups
over other groups: classes, genders, nations. MIM
knows this is only possible by building public
opinion to seize power through armed struggle.
Revolution is a reality for North America as the
military becomes over-extended in the government's
attempts to maintain world hegemony.
MIM differs from other communist parties on three
main questions: (1) MIM holds that after the
proletariat seizes power in socialist revolution,
the potential exists for capitalist restoration
under the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within
the communist party itself. In the case of the
USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the death
of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's
death and the overthrow of the "Gang of Four" in
1976. (2) MIM upholds the Chinese Cultural
Revolution as the farthest advance of communism in
human history. (3) MIM believes the North American
white-working-class is primarily a non-
revolutionary worker-elite at this time; thus, it
is not the principal vehicle to advance Maoism in
this country.
MIM accepts people as members who agree on these
basic principles and accept democratic centralism,
the system of majority rule, on other questions of
party line.
"The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is
universally applicable. We should regard it not as
dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is
not merely a matter of learning terms and phrases,
but of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of
revolution."
-- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208
* * *
ADVANCE THE STRUGGLE AGAINST THE AMERIKKKAN LOCKDOWN!
MASSACHUSETTS OPENS NEW SUPERMAX PRISON TO INCREASE
CONTROL
On September 30th the state of Massachusetts opened a
new 1000 bed supermax prison in Shirley. This prison,
featuring state-of-the-art technology to torture and
isolate inmates, was filled within days of opening
through the transfer of prisoners from lower security
facilities around the state.
This new prison is part of the trend of overclassifying
prisoners. Inmates who are in low and medium security
prisons are being moved into maximum security cells even
though they have done nothing to deserve this security
increase. This is important to the prisoners because
maximum security prisons involve at least 22 hour
solitary confinement and many other restrictions on the
prisoners. These cells are filled with the most
politically active prisoners: those who protest against
the constant and brutal repression behind the bars.
In the other maximum security facility in Massachusetts
at Walpole over 90% of the prisoners are Puerto Rican.
This kind of systematic lock up is tremendously
disproportionate to the number of Puerto Ricans in the
prisons not to mention the general population in the
state. One of the reasons for these outrageous numbers
is the policy of locking up suspected gang members. This
status is decided by the guards who use criteria like
who a prisoners is seen talking to and whether or not
the prisoner has a tatoo.
Currently the state of Massachusetts criminal injustice
department claims to have 3082 extra prisoners for whom
they do not have adequate facilities. The vast majority
of these prisoners are in medium security prisons (over
75%) while only 9% are in maximum security.(1) But in
spite of this the state has built a maximum security
prison.
Commissioner of incorrections Maloney says that many of
these medium security prisoners should be reclassified
because the guards are not safe.(1) But over the past
year 34 prisoners were killed in Massachusetts prisons,
many at the hands of guards, others while guards stood
by and watched. Seven people hung themselves, a strong
statement about the conditions in Massachusetts prisons.
It is not the guards who are unsafe, it is the
prisoners. And a number of these deaths took place in
the maximum security prison at Walpole: clearly these
prisons do nothing to protect the prisoners from the
pigs.
Three years ago 299 prisoners were shipped to Texas in
the middle of the night in a huge publicity stunt to
force through a bond bill to fund the building of this
new prison and the expansion of other prisons in the
state of Massachusetts, adding a total of 3000 new beds.
These prisoners have suffered even worse treatment in
Texas than in Massachusetts while they live without
contact with family or friends. But none of these
inmates are being returned to Massachusetts now that
this new prison in Shirley is open.(2)
This new 1000 bed prison will cost close to $1 billion
after all the bonds are paid back. Even the state House
admitted that this prison construction is a capacity
driven business that will never solve the overcrowding
problem. In a report reviewing the recent prison
construction the House Post-Audit and Oversight Bureau
wrote "Long-term solutions that reduce the numbers of
inmates coming into the system must be developed''
citing studies showing that mandatory drug sentencing is
one cause of the explosion in the prison population
nationwide. At least 20 percent of the Massachusetts
prison population is incarcerated for drug-related
offenses.(2)
One Massachusetts DOC official told the Boston Globe
that the new prison will offer educational and
vocational programs. These programs have been entirely
cut off at the other maximum security prison at Walpole
so this statement sounds like an attempt to sound good
in the media since there is no good reason to offer
these programs at one prison but not at others in the
state.
Even if such programs are offered at Shirley they will
not change the nature of the supermax prison which is
the ultimate tool of social control in a society which
uses prisons to control oppressed nations, youth and
anyone who speaks out against the dominant order of
imperialism.
In order to fund the expanding cost of housing prisoners
in higher and higher security facilities many prisons in
Massachusetts have recently begun charging inmates for
the basics of living. The Plymouth County Correctional
Facility is now charging all new prisons a $30
processing fee. It's estimated that the fee will
generate 60-65 thousand dollars a year.(3)
Norfolk County Sheriff has been charging prisoners a $30
fee for a year, generating $34,000 in revenue. The
families of Bristol County inmates pay an extra toll for
each collect call the inmates place. State inmates also
pay an average of 15 percent more for toiletries and
snacks.(3)
This trend in Massachusetts is similar to what's going
on in other states. In Florida inmates are paying for
their meals. In Pennsylvania some are being forced to
pay for their own room and board. In Texas and in
Massachusetts prisoners are required to pay a fee every
time they visit the infirmary.(3)
In Massachusetts the prison population has skyrocketed
from 7,500 in 1976 to over 24,000 in 1998. This reflects
the trend throughout the united snakes. Meanwhile the
crime rate has been totally unaffected. Prisons in this
country are used to control and oppress segments of the
population that the government sees as dangerous.
The criminal injustice system is part of the united
snakes' war on its internal colonies. This is not a war
that will be won by the people if we sit by quietly or
just beg the government for a few concessions. Only by
tearing down the imperialist system which builds and
uses the criminal injustice system can we win this war.
Join MIM and RAIL in our fight against imperialism and
its criminal injustice system. As we build a movement
strong enough to wage the revolutionary battle we are
engaged in many day to day battles within the system. We
need help building our books for prisoners program,
building our legal clinic, and building our education
work and local campaigns on the outside. And behind the
bars we need help building the prisoner anti-imperialist
mass organization.
Notes:
1. NPR, October 6, 1998.
2. Boston Globe, Sep. 30, 1998. P.B1.
3. Boston Globe, September 23, 1998.
* * *
AGAINST OPPRESSIVE AMERIKAN PRISONS?
DON'T VOTE! BUILD RAIL! BUILD MIM!
In recent months MIM and RAIL members have run into
activists in California who are encouraging all people
who oppose CA's repressive "Three Strikes" law to spend
all of their time registering people to vote for the
Democratic candidate for governor, Grey Davis. They
argue that Davis has a softer position on Three Strikes
and, because he is a Democrat, will be more open to the
reform efforts of a Democratic state senator, John
Vasconcellos.
MIM consistently argues that the systems of imperialist
national oppression and capitalist exploitation -- that
is, the systems which create the need for oppressive
institutions like the California Department of
Corrections -- must be overthrown in order to change the
Amerikan prison system. Because of this, MIM (and MIM-
led groups like RAIL and the newly forming prisoners
anti-imperialist masss organization) focus their work on
building public opinion against the current prison
system and building institutions of and for prisoners,
such as the Free Books for Prisoners program or the
prisoners' Self-help Legal Clinic.
Pepsi or coke?
Davis or Lundgren?
Big Mac or whopper?
Democrat Grey Davis supports Three Strikes, and milks
that for all its worth while campaigning. He just
supports a weaker version of the law, which would only
count violent felonies as a third strike. (Currently,
any third felony conviction carries mandatory hard-time
sentence - which is why you hear stories of people
getting life without parole for stealing a piece of
pizza.) In fact, Davis is trying so hard to cloak
himself with the reactionary "anti-crime," anti-prisoner
mantle that Lundgren has to run ads saying that Davis is
not really pro-Three Strikes.
It is true that Vasconcellos recently helped to launch a
new state investigation into brutality at Corcoran State
Prison and is also pushing a bill that would study the
impact of Three Strikes, as part of an effort to reform
it. But the many government investigations into Corcoran
have resulted in either nothing, or in individual
scapegoating. In order to save face after the abuses at
Corcoran became public, the Republican Lundgren recently
announced the indictment of several prison guards.
Any electoral strategy for prison reform will have to
deal with the fact that the California Correctional
Peace Officers Association is the second largest
campaign contributor in California. The prison guards'
union has been instrumental in stopping any
investigation into systematic abuse in California
prisons, and has also promoted the growth of California
prisons -- and that union backs Davis in the election.
One supporter of the voter drive said that if Davis is
not elected, "we are dead here for 4 years." A RAIL
activists countered that it will be the organized masses
-- especially the organized prisoners -- who will
change the prisons system. If Davis loses, the masses
will still be here. And if Davis wins, it will take
pressure from the masses to force him to stick to his
word.
Bashing commies and oppressed nations gets you votes
A vocal supporter of Davis recently red- and brown-
baited any Californian prison activists not working to
elect the Democrat Grey Davis. This individual, who goes
by the name "B. Cayenne Byrd" on-line and maintains a
mailing list related to prisoner issues, recently wrote
that "[w]e will lose all the real fighters to the
Communists if you don't get in gear on contacting
individuals and groups out there who are going the wrong
direction. The Mexican Communists are in full swing and
what we are living under right now is just as bad as
Communism. That direction is not a solution." S/he also
wrote, "The Mexican Revol. Communists have heavily
infiltrated our efforts." Byrd argues that self-
identified communists should check their ideology at the
door when working on prisoner issues, because the
mainstream press will red-bait the movement - of course
s/he hself red-baits more than any of the mainstream
media.
As we explain in the article sidebar, reformist
electoral struggles in the u.$. often include crowd
pleasing anti-Communism and Amerikan chauvinism. Byrd
certainly does not deviate from this rule. Ironically,
Byrd, who prides hself on placing prisoners first (while
licking Grey Davis' boots), will find hself alienated
from many of the prisoners themselves because of this.
As anybody reading Under Lock and Key will notice, many
prisoners are communist sympathizers themselves, and
many others respect the work communists undertake.
Certainly Amerikan chauvinism does nothing to help the
position of the majority of u.$. prisoners, who are from
oppressed nations.
And many prisoners are dissatisfied with electoral
prison reform. As one ex-prisoner said at the recent
Critical Resistance conference, "You ask any inmate at
Angola prison about prison reform, and they'll say
'prison what?' It doesn't exist."
Reform and revolution
Single-issue work around prison brutality is important
work. For people who are not convinced of the need for
revolution, working to change repressive laws like the
"Three Strikes" is good work. MIM and RAIL often work
together with such groups. But we will not tolerate
anti-communism and first world or settler nation
chauvinism.
The two ring electoral circus, grand juries, internal
investigations, and congressional inquiries - the
system's attempts to fix itself -- all fail to address
the real problems. As long as the fundamental role of
Amerikan prisons -- control of oppressed groups --
remains unchanged, there will be violence in Amerikan
prisons. Prisons are on the front lines of Amerika's war
against its internal colonies, where men and wimmin are
confined against their will -- more and more often for
crimes which their white counterparts get away with.
Only by solving the broader problems of national
oppression can the problem of brutality in Amerikan
prisons be eradicated.
* * *
SOCIAL DEMOCRACY:
IDEOLOGICAL AND POLITICAL PROP OF IMPERIALISM
New readers of MIM Notes may wonder why MIM uses the
term "social democracy" as an epithet. Here we sum up
what social democracy is, and some historical examples
of how social democracy has consistently sided with the
imperialist against the oppressed peoples of the world.
Social democrats (a.k.a. democratic socialists)
generally want a more equitable distribution of wealth,
access to health care, education, and so on. They try to
make these changes via the ballot box - so,
strategically, they are reformists. The more radical
social democrats talk about placing private industries
under state control and abolishing profit for
production, but many social democrats believe that
capitalism can be made "more just."
As MIM discussed in MIM Theory 5, the social democrat's
ballot-oriented strategy has a dismal track record, and
even the most radical social democrats don't talk about
abolishing classes or the state in the long run.(1)
Social democracy is an ideology of the middle classes,
e.g. the labor aristocracy and the petit-bourgeoisie.
Relative to the capitalists, they are not doing so well.
Relative to the proletariat, the lumpenproletariat, or
peasantry (in semi-feudal societies), capitalism
provides them some perks. So while they are discontent
with the status quo, they are also not willing to risk
their privileged social status or their higher standard
of living to make a revolution and overturn capitalism.
Because the size of these middle classes is so very
small in the oppressed nations (for example, less than
10% of the population of the Philippines), the influence
of social democracy has been small there. But here in
the u.$., the middle classes are a majority, and the
influence of social democracy has been large.
Social democracy becomes particularly pernicious inside
the u.$. when it only focuses on spreading the wealth
around within u.$. borders. Because the majority of
those working within u.$. borders do not produce surplus
value, this amounts to spreading stolen booty around.
This kind of social democracy keeps the exploitation of
the oppressed nations in the Third World intact and
gives more people a bigger stake in continuing the
exploitation of the TW. (There are internationalist
social democrats here in the u.$., people who
consistently talk about spreading wealth around the
entire world. MIM views them as potential allies. But
the overwhelming majority of social democrats in the
u.$. are Amerikan chauvinist.)
So MIM strongly opposes social democracy not only
because MIM upholds communism, but also because MIM
knows that social democracy in imperialist countries is
the surest path to abandoning the anti-imperialist
struggle. This has been shown time and again in history.
The social-democratic parties of the Second
International endorsed WWI. Lenin developed his theory
of the labor aristocracy to explain this treachery.
The social democrats in Germany allied with proto-
fascists in order to put down a proletarian uprising
after WWI. They also complained that Germany was
deprived of its colonies.
In the 20s, socialists in France argued that colonies
were a fact of economic life and socialists in Holland
argued that there were limits on the right to self
determination.
The French Communist [sic] Party turned against the
Vietnamese and Algerian peoples, among others. The
French CP dropped its support for the independence of
the colonies in order to gain more popularity in
elections. In fact, the head of the French CP was a
vice-premier in the government which launched full scale
war against the Viet Minh in 1946.
The Democratic Socialists of America under Michael
Harrington supported the war in Viet Nam throughout the
60s.
Wimpy bureaucrat capitalists like Jesse Jackson draw
the support of social democrats - despite Jesse's
support for the Gulf War and other Amerikan atrocities.
The list could go on and on... (For starters, see HW
Edwards, "Labor Aristocracy: Mass Base of Social
Democracy," pp. 33-46 (2))
Notes: 1. MIM Theory 5, pp. 83-85. 2. Edward's book is
available from MIM ($10).
* * *
LETTERS
English-only schools = punishment for immigrants
Dear MIM,
I am writing to inform you that I have received the
latest issues of MIM Notes and as always they were very
informative.
However, I would like to expound on the article on
Bilingual Education crushed in California (Proposition
227).
This forced language assimilation requires students to
wait until they learn english before learning other
subjects. If enacted however, it is doomed for failure
and will hurt the ability of immigrant children to
learn, isolate them, and punish the teachers who reach
out to them. Researches of bilingual education indicate
that when bilingual programs include small classes,
qualified teachers, adequate funding, and full
acceptance students learn more english and get higher
scores on achievement tests than those taught without
bilingual instruction.
The (Unz)? proposal, like other such policies throughout
u.s. his-story, is another dogged effort to wipe out
diversity of language and culture and will immediately
affect 1.3 million children. This racism is our crime of
the year.
Also, in my last letter I asked if you could send me
some books on the Black Panther Party, George Jackson,
and Malcolm X. I'm trying to start a study group and
self-awareness class.
In Struggle From the Barricades, A PA prisoner
Why no names in the paper?
Dear MIM,
Obviously you guys have some rather fervent opinions.
However, after reading an issue of your paper, cover to
cover, not once did I see the name of any writer,
editor, or anyone. Why?
I will venture to give you this word of advice: A strong
opinion is the sign of a courageous fighter. However, an
unsigned, anonymous criticism of anything is the sign of
a coward. Your paper is great, so stand behind it. Sign
your name on your work, or it's worthless.
--a student in the midwest
MIM responds:
The reason that MIM does not use the real names of
comrades, members or even friends working with us or who
write to us, is because we see no need to reveal the
identity of people who work to build revolution. MIM is
an underground Party which supports revolutions which
are fighting governments that are in turn funded by the
United Snakes government. Similarly, RAIL, an anti-
imperialist mass organization led by MIM, supports
struggles against imperialism and for genuine national
liberation. These are not things that are looked upon
favorably in this country. It would also be naive for us
to ignore the history of COINTELPRO and severe
repression, murder and imprisonment conducted by the
government against individuals and groups which fought
for the things that we currently fight for.
There are still hundreds of prisoners in Amerikkkan
prisons who are in there specifically because of their
political activities. In fact, RAIL recently showed
showing a film which covers part of this repression in
the city this letter writer wrote from. The movie, "All
Power to the People", covers the development and work of
the Black Panther Party, the American Indian Movement,
The Young Lords Party and other revolutionary
organizations. It also covers the FBI Counter
Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) and how it was used to
destroy these organizations.
It would be self-defeating to add direct fights against
pigs attacking our leaders and activists to the list of
struggles we engage in. At this point in time, RAIL and
MIM's main work is to build public opinion, to educate,
to develop independent People's institutions. These are
battles which take a lot of work. And we do not want to
add to that list the defense of activists. As it is,
there are hundreds of prisoners we work with who are in
need of legal assistance. And many prisoners we work
with face repeated denial of parole because they are
politically active.
As for accountability that you imply or cowardess, in
MIM Notes, you can hold the entire Party, as an
organization, accountable to what is written in the
paper. The Party works under the principle of democratic
centralism. In part what that means is that individuals
are part of the Party, and the Party is accountable to
the masses. If people think that a MIM article is
incorrect on something, it is not a matter of a single
individual being incorrect, it is the Party as a whole.
As for RAIL, since its a mass organization with many
different views, what you read in RAIL papers do not
represent the views of every individual in RAIL per se,
but you can still hold the organization accountable to
what it says. You are welcome to challenge any of the
political arguments that we make, and we can discuss it.
You can write back or you can find us around town
organizing.
Police Terrorize Oppressed Nations in New York
...Have y'all heard the news about the fascist acts of
Mayer Guilliani and his goon squads? Well, they raided
the homes of the residents of the Bed-Styvensant housing
in New York claming to be looking for a Bro. Shahid
Muhammad for "assaulting a police officer" at the
Million Youth March Saturday, September 5th. This was
allegedly during the police, military actions of
breaking up the march. Anyway, I only caught bits and
pieces of it and maybe y'all can check into it and
present it in your next MIM Notes?...
-- A South Carolina Prisoner, 12 September 1998
MIM responds:
Thanks for keeping us posted on the latest from the NY
pig squad. We are not up on all the news all the time
and sometimes even prisoners, whose access to news is
very limited, can help inform us and our readers about
important issues.
If you are aware of an incident of police brutality,
criminal injustice, or other government repression or
imperialist attack somewhere in the world, write it up
for MIM Notes, or just send us the info so we can get
our writers to do a story on it.
* * *
FIGHT CONTINUED SETTLER NATION CAMPAIGN OF GENOCIDE!
LUBICON CREE VICTORIES HIGHLIGHTED DURING IPD EVENT
In honor of Indigenous Peoples Day (known by the
imperialists as Columbus Day) RAIL in Boston showed a
video about the Lubicon Cree and hosted a discussion
about settler genocide within u.s. and canadian borders.
The Lubicon have been fighting imperialist attacks on
their land for years. Recently capitalists have
discovered oil and valuable trees and have been working
with the government to gain access rights to Cree land.
"We're trying to protect our land and our resources and
we certainly don't consider doing something that
conserves the environment or the land in any way
breaking any kind of law." Lubicon Chief Bernard
Ominayak said at the Drumfest in Toronto in 1991.(1) But
both the Lubicon and their supporters have faced attacks
in the courts for their actions opposing imperialist
encroachment on the Lubicon land. Earlier in 1998, the
Toronto-based Friends of the Lubicon Cree, an
organization devoted to defending the Lubicon Cree land
rights, won a court victory in the ongoing battle
against imperialist attacks on this First Nation's right
to sovereignty and self-determination.
The Lubicon Cree have lived on territory in what the
imperialists call Canada for hundreds of years. In
recent years greedy corporations discovered that the
Lubicon land is rich in oil and timber. After destroying
the environment already stolen from First Nations, the
capitalists moved to destroy the environment on land
which, up until recently, they thought was worthless and
hence was fine for the Cree people to occupy.
Daishowa Inc. is a company that produces paper products
which has led the clearcutting of Cree forests land. The
Friends of the Lubicon have been fighting a court battle
over their right to boycott companies that purchase
Daishowa products. Four years into the boycott, Daishowa
sued, attempting to stop the effective protest being led
by the Friends of the Lubicon. There is an ancient law
on the books in both Canada and the United Snakes which
states that such secondary product boycotts are not
legal.
The boycott against Daishowa products had tremendous
results: Between 1991 and 1994 all 50 companies
contacted by the Friends of the Lubicon agreed to join
the boycott. Most joined reluctantly only after the
Friends' threatened to picket their store. Daishowa
representatives recently estimated losses resulting from
the boycott at $14 million. Unable to win on the
streets, Daishowa decided to take their case to court
and use the criminal injustice system to intimidate and
repress anti-colonialist dissent.(2)
In April of this year the Friends of the Lubicon finally
won the right to boycott Daishowa products and intend to
take up the boycott again unless Daishowa agrees to
respect Lubicon management of traditional territories
currently occupied by Alberta. It was the Province of
Alberta which granted the logging rights to Daishowa,
bypassing all rights of the Lubicon people.(2)
This court victory is a legal victory for activists
everywhere as the imperialist governments try to take
away more and more of our so-called freedom of speech
whenever we use it to speak out against imperialist
injustice.
During the discussion after the video showing in Boston,
people raised the issue of the importance of First
Nation's right to self-determination. One person asked
if it was possible that First Nations, whose land and
culture is being destroyed could regain their identity
even if they were given new land. This underscored the
urgency of the struggle. Speakers in the film talked
about the forced assimilation of the Cree children who
are attending schools that teach them to be white. The
battle for self-determination for the First Nations is
literally a race against time. With every generation
more youth are assimilated into a white nation that
offers alcoholism, drugs and unemployment. With every
parcel of land stolen by the imperialists the First
Nations have that much less chance of survival.
Since Columbus invaded over 500 years ago many
indigenous nations have been wiped off the face of the
earth. The few who retain small plots of land "given" to
them by the imperialist governments of Amerika and
Kanada face constant attacks by the government and
corporations eager to take back the little wealth left
on this land. Join MIM and RAIL in opposing 500+ years
of imperialist genocide and support First Nation's right
to self-determination.
Notes:
1. "BEEDAUDJIMOWIN", Summer 1991
2. The Council Spirit, Volume 3, Issue 1 from the
Council for Native American Solidarity. Reprinted from
News From Indian Country, Mid-May 1998.
* * *
INTER-IMPERIALIST RIVALRY HITS THE FRONT PAGES
The Republican Congress versus President Clinton - some
underlying conflict is driving the impeachment debate.
Which conflicts are the key is the question we Maoists
ask when we talk about "inter-imperialist rivalry." One
way such questions manifest themselves is in asking,
"why are they REALLY out to get Clinton?"
On October 7th, the New York Times published a special
issue on inter-imperialist rivalry. Literally all four
top stories on the front page were about inter-
imperialist rivalry.
Two old stories came up with new twists. The U.$.
government wants to attack the Serbs in Yugoslavia, but
Russia resists. Some of the U.$. government's usual
imperialist allies are calling on the U.$. to wait for
Russian approval. That is a typical inter-imperialist
news story about deciding questions of war. It is true
that historically the Russians have sided with the Serbs
against enemies to their West.
Another typical story is the New York Times line on
France, which is that France is quite independent with
large business ties to Iraq. The question is whether or
not French business ties to Iraq are strong enough that
France is selling out its former ally in the war against
Iraq -- the U.$. imperialists. We at MIM find it
unlikely on the whole but true up to a point. In fact,
the French found deadly nerve gas VX on Iraqi warheads,
but France did not report it for fear of hurting Iraq's
chances of getting UN sanctions lifted -- so says the
New York Times.
Of course, the top far right front page of the New York
Times October 7th is about the Lewinsky scandal. On
October 9th, Clinton lost 31 House representatives of
his own party to a Republican party resolution for an
impeachment inquiry. That is the story everyone has
heard about. Other stories may tell us more about the
underlying conflict.
Story three in the New York Times accompanying the lead
photo and the most column space is really new in the
reporting of inter-imperialist rivalry. Apparently,
European imperialists speaking as a whole in
anticipation of European unity have attacked the U.$.
imperialists as the bad guys for imposing international
austerity.
Only days earlier the New York Times had informed the
world that Japan considered itself scapegoated by the
U.$. imperialists. Now a picture arises of the U.$.
capitalist class coercing the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) to clamp down for austerity in the Third
World and former state-capitalist countries like Russia.
The Europeans are demanding a say at the IMF and France
is criticizing the U.$. government for not stimulating
its economy with tax cuts or government spending.
At the same time, Japan says the U.$. imperialists'
penny-pinching caused the U.$. imperialists to look away
when Japan suggested joint action on Thailand, when the
problem there was still relatively affordable to fix.
MIM believes it is true that the U.$. imperialists were
consciously seeking to weaken the Japanese imperialist
block, not so much as to cause global revolution, but
enough for improved U.$. position. The risks of the U.$.
position include the possibility that fractions of
ruling classes would prefer full-blown crisis over
greater U.$. dominance.
At this time, the World Bank also launched a public
attack on the IMF for being pro-austerity and openly
spoke for the world's poor "who can't wait" for the
timid economic leadership of imperialism. Thus, the
World Bank found it politically useful to improve its
image by attacking another faction of the imperialist
ruling class.
The IMF defended its policies by pointing to the
Philippines as a success story! Anyone with even just a
small amount of information about the Philippines can
only consider it a success story for the ruling class.
The IMF also says that Latin America has learned its
lesson since the Mexico crisis.
Meanwhile, James Wolfensohn of the World Bank said, "If
we do not have longer-term plans for solid institutions,
if we do not have great equity and social justice, there
will be no political stability and without political
stability no amount of money put together in financial
packages will give us financial stability." (1)
The World Bank comments, the election of Blair in
England and the rejection of Kohl in Germany point to an
ascendant left-center faction of imperialism globally.
If the U.$. labor aristocracy becomes convinced that its
well-being depends on global economic growth - and the
current crisis is almost tailor-made to teach that
lesson - the chances for the left-center bourgeois
internationalist rule will improve. The World Bank is
only expressing this conflict most ably at this time by
going public with its disagreements with the U.$.-IMF
strategies for austerity.
The left-center faction of imperialism seems to be
converging on relatively upbeat (for imperialist)
assumptions for economic growth possibilities. The World
Bank in particular has the job of expressing the
concerns of finance capital with no where to go. The
nightmare of finance capital is a world where people
will not borrow money, even at 0 % or close to 0 %. Such
a world is also likely where there are no profits for
businesses to make. If there are no profits to make,
then there is no reason for businesses to borrow money.
In such a world, the "coupon-clippers" Lenin spoke of
will not be able to sit in cafes and drink cappucino all
day by living off the interest from certificates of
deposits, bonds or savings accounts. Thus, the coupon-
clippers may be lazy themselves but they might need a
World Bank to urge that others have ambitions and a need
for instant capital.
Imperialism is, by definition since Lenin, the
capitalist system grown to a stage where it is
characterized by export of capital. When Citibank, Chase
or other banks go to the Third World desperately looking
for loans to make, they have competing concerns. One
concern is being paid back and having their payments
take priority. This may lead banks to wanting the people
of Indonesia or Russia to be poor while the banks are
paid back. On the other hand, while waiting for
payments, the bankers also feel an utter compulsion to
loan out more money. It is one of the two most
fundamental aspects of capitalism - overproduction -
that is driving further imperialist loans. The political
expression of finance capital with no outlet is the
World Bank.
This political view of imperialism is that the world has
many projects to undertake. It is good for the world to
be busy and developing all the time, because the
pressure to make more loans is always building in the
imperialist system. If countries realize they have to
get their poor taken care of, they realize why they need
to borrow imperialist money and get business moving.
Hence, the World Bank has always had a left-of-center
facade, one that is coming into greater focus at this
moment of crisis.
For the right-wing class-struggle oriented faction of
imperialism, the World Bank view comes perilously close
to socialism. The World Bank points to concrete needs
and acts as if planning can accomplish positive economic
goals. The right-wing prioritizes belt-tightening by the
poor. Words like "readjustment" "stabilization" and
"budget balance" are the key to this faction of
imperialism.
The ultra-left idealist Progressive Labor Party offers a
different view with its "masses-are-asses" line. It
talks about Old Money versus New Money or oil interests
versus other interests. According to PLP there may be a
rift at this time because some oil capitalists wanted a
harder approach to Iraq in recent months. In connection
to the war on Iraq, PLP has made some mistakes. It has
admitted: "The truth is that we don't understand all the
ins and outs of the fights among the big bosses."(2)
That is something MIM has already said about inter-
imperialist rivalry in recent years since end of the
Cold War.
We also checked the Communist Party USA (CP-USA) view on
the ruling class splits to see what the liberal
reformists are thinking. The CP-USA is basically the
James Carville of liberalism in being aggressive in its
struggle for the labor aristocracy's soul: "Vote Nov. 3!
Your life could depend on it" screams the headline on
page one.
The CP-USA view should be taken as the inside view of
the liberal wing of imperialism complaining about
"unemployment growing, tons of wheat piling up because
there are no buyers, finished steel rusting in open
fields in Chicago because of imports."(3)As usual, the
CP-USA has that patriotic twist to it, one step from
Ross Perot's "sucking sound" discussion of jobs leaving
the United $tates. In this, the CP-USA caters to the
middle-class frightened by global competition and
wanting a domesticated capitalism favoring the U.$.
labor aristocracy. The CP-USA is not catering to the
people with "nothing to lose but their chains," because
such people are not threatened by global economic
competition, trade or cooperation.
For this reason, the CP-USA adds nothing new to the
analysis of inter-imperialist rivalry at all, content to
"lend credence to First Lady Hillary Clinton's charges
of a 'vast-right wing conspiracy' that targets her
husband."(4)
The bourgeois media has already reported on the
political connections amongst the actors involved in
trying to nail Clinton. The CP-USA points to Pittsburgh
billionaire Richard Mellon - of Mellon Bank, Gulf Oil
and Alcoa money - as the source of funds for lawyers
digging dirt on Clinton and for avowedly conservative
Pepperdine University which has offered Starr a
deanship.(4)
The CP-USA does the spade work for Patrick Buchanan
while openly leaving the backdoor open for the World
Bank style of left-center imperialism: "Around the
world, voters turn left" is CP-USA articles that openly
credits Tony Blair in England and German Social Democrat
Gerhard Schroeder. Listening to the CP-USA, one would
think imperialism has already turned socialist except
for the Republican Congress of course.
Capitalism is in perhaps its most severe manifestation
of its underlying crisis in 50 years. We communists seek
to avoid the fate of the CP-USA where all we talk about
is how the petty-bourgeoisie faces austerity. Such a
class struggle removed from international context is an
easy plaything for the imperialists to manipulate via a
patriotism strategy: keep capitalism but throw out the
foreigners stealing jobs, buy Amerikan etc.
Defeating the left-center bourgeois internationalist
imperialists will require connecting the anarchy of
capitalist production to war and pollution. The Clinton-
Blair-Schroeder-Jospin face of imperialism is quite
happy to speak for the poor and against austerity if the
New World Order can be imposed globally that way. In
contrast, we in MIM will stand with the Third World
proletariat and for national liberation against the New
World Order.
Notes:
1. New York Times 7Oct1998, p. a6.
2. Challenge 30Sept1998, p. 7.
3. People's Weekly World 10Oct1998, p. 12.
4. People's Weekly World 10Oct1998, p. 3.
* * *
STARR REPORT ON IMPEACHMENT IS PORNOGRAPHY
MIM read the Starr Report (New York: Pocket Books, 1998,
523 pp.) investigating President Clinton to find out if
there were any additional clues to the intra-ruling
class fight raging in Washington, D.C. With all the
criminal actions of the U.$. government every day -
especially the perjury of cops and lies of prosecutors -
- we wondered why one wing of the ruling class was
attacking the other over Monica Lewinsky.
It turns out there is nothing new in the report not
already discussed and re-discussed by the media prior to
its release. Bourgeois analysts including Hillary
Clinton believe there is a right-wing conspiracy against
centrist Clinton. From reading the Starr Report, MIM
cannot add anything new beyond what Hillary Clinton and
others have said about the ruling class feud.
Bourgeois analysis of its own fissures
It is true that in Amerika, there were those lobbying
Congressional Judiciary Committee head Henry Hyde for
Clinton's impeachment all along. The extremist right-
wing Christians of the country are readily mobilized by
the kind of simpleton adultery issues that Starr harped
on in his report. For this reason, some bourgeois
analysts believe that Republicans will benefit in
elections by going along with the impeachment drive the
way born-again Christians see it. While much of the
country will be indifferent or cynical, the born-agains
will activate themselves as a movement against Clinton.
Perhaps the Christians will vote while others stay home.
In response, the Democrats at the end of September
started to attack Starr and the Republican House for
spreading "smut" by dragging out the Monica Lewinsky
matter. Democrats warned that the people would see
through the Republican obsession with the issue. The
Democratic Party attack had the potential of ripping
away the Christians from the Republican Party by
emphasizing that it was the Republican Party's fault
that children were hearing about the Lewinsky matter on
television.
Lending support to the election-oriented theory of the
right-wing is the Starr Report's factual account, mostly
devoid of finer legal points. Indeed, much of the Starr
Report includes information about what Clinton said
politically to the public - including statements
presumably off-limits for perjury and obstruction of
justice concerns. The brief rebuttals of the White House
contained more points of law than the Starr Report which
was a readable account of the "facts."
As we write this, President Clinton seems to be
benefiting in the polls from Starr's attack. If the
bourgeois polls are done correctly, the public seems to
be making the logical distinction of Clinton and his
persynal life and motivations as apart from his policies
and government. Since the bourgeoisie and petty-
bourgeoisie gives credit to Clinton for filling its
economic trough, the mental faculties of the Amerikan
people have suddenly much improved.
In the midst of intensified class struggle, the
bourgeoisie being the minority class must seek to cause
discord in the proletarian camp and it does so by
instigating various persynal attacks and distractions
that cause one-on-one fighting instead of class-against-
class fighting. Since the public has learned to
distinguish perysnal motivations from professional and
political action, it may be on a road to making greater
scientific progress.
From MIM's point of view, the ability of the two-party
system to focus on the trivial and make it sexy is a key
to its stability. Kenneth Starr and the right-wing money
behind the Paula Jones case seek to discredit their
pseudo-feminist enemies or at least cleave them away
from the Democratic Party by connecting Clinton to
sexual harassment. Yet even if the right-wing fails it
will do so with no damage to the system and with the
issue of sexual harassment discredited yet again. It
seemed to be a win-win scenario for the right-wing.
Starr Report: a dialectical product of pseudo-feminism
Kenneth Starr originally was supposed to be
investigating the Whitewater real estate and banking
deals involving Bill and Hillary Clinton. Starr's
involvement in the Monica Lewinsky matter appears to
have started on an illegal basis, (pp. 513-7) but the
Paula Jones sexual harassment case in Arkansas would
have brought the Lewinsky matter to the public anyway.
While NOW and other pseudo-feminist leaders have opposed
the call for impeachment, it is important to note that
Starr and Paula Jones could not have gotten as far as
they did without pseudo-feminism. In particular the
peculiar notion that a court system supposedly devoted
to individual liberties can illustrate "patterns" of
sexual harassment is that unique addition of pseudo-
feminist theory that Starr took advantage of - perhaps
with the intention of discrediting it from a right-wing
angle.
Prosecutionism
Historically men were able to defend themselves against
allegations of sexual misconduct by pointing to the
sexual history of the wimmin accusing them. The notion
was that if a womyn always said "yes" to men in the
past, it was unlikely that the case in court was any
different.
Pseudo-feminists responded to this attack by pushing
individualism. They argued that whatever pattern existed
in the past, what mattered was what happened at the time
of alleged sexual harassment or rape, not whatever
sexual history the womyn might have had. With "shield
laws," the pseudo-feminists succeeded in making
defendants unable to use the sexual history defense,
unable to point to patterns in the individual. This was
victory number one for prosecutors and pseudo-feminists.
On the other hand, prosecutors and pseudo-feminists also
turned the tide by making it legally acceptable to enter
men's sexual history into court. To understand how
Whitewater ended up being about Monica Lewinsky, we must
understand pseudo-feminist and prosecutorial
transitional "logic." "In an order dated December 11,
1997, for example, Judge Wright said: 'The Court finds,
therefore that the plaintiff [Paula Jones -ed.] is
entitled to information regarding any individuals with
whom the President had sexual relations or proposed or
sought to have sexual relations and who were during the
relevant time frame state or federal employees.'" (p.
23)
On the basis of Paula Jones related testimony that Judge
Wright required of Clinton and on the basis of grand
jury testimony, Starr found that Clinton perjured
himself. Of the two testimonies, Clinton's Paula Jones
testimony was more damaging in Starr's eyes.
Starr was seeking to discredit Clinton in other legal
matters, so his interest in perjury was intrinsic if he
had other cases against Clinton. Since Starr is still
chugging along on other cases, we do not know fully how
Starr will justify his transition from Whitewater to
Lewinsky.
Privacy
The system of private property makes no sense without a
concept of privacy and this fact guarantees strife
within the capitalist system. The Supreme Court
guaranteed abortion rights based on an idea of privacy
and Clinton and the majority of the public counter-
attacked Starr along privacy lines. Whether or not
Clinton perjured himself, much public opinion centered
on the fact that he never should have been asked the
questions he was asked.
Without privacy in a capitalist system, any evil
government official may abuse the citizenry for his or
her own profit or perverse persynal pleasure. Even those
of us opposed to the system must uphold privacy at
times. The 9th and 10th amendments to the "U.S.
Constitution" address the limitations of government. The
9th in particular might be read as saying keep out of
the citizens' bedroom matters: "The enumeration in the
Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed
to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
On the other hand, the contradictions of the system also
ensure that privacy is used by the people to oppress
other people in a system based on private profit. In
particular, men oppress wimmin in private. Mail order
brides would be a good example where men take advantage
of privacy.
We find it typical that Judge Wright agreed with Paula
Jones's lawyers that Clinton had to give testimony only
to reverse herself and say that none of the testimony
was admissible.(p. 28) Her justification of her own
twisted reasoning was also pornographic: "The issue was
one of discovery, not admissibility of evidence at
trial. Discovery, as all counsel know, by its very
nature takes unforeseen twists and turns and goes down
numerous paths, and whether those paths lead to the
discovery of admissible evidence often simply cannot be
predetermined."(p. 37) In other words, it was better for
the President to talk about these pornographic matters
than not to, because who knows what we would have
learned.
The Paula Jones related pornography is all the more sick
because the judge also determined in the end that Paula
Jones had no damages to claim. It makes one wonder, if
there were no damages, then there was no reason to
bother except pornographic interest.
The individualist system of capitalism and its court
system cannot be used except hypocritically to address
wimmin's oppression. The search for group patterns in
the individual is worse than futile: the end result in
the Clarence Thomas and Bill Clinton cases as in others
is simply more pornography - whether the individual men
in question lose their cases or not. The substance of
feminism is sex, but not all driven discussion of sex is
feminism.
Gary Hart phenomenon: beauty and power
In the Starr Report we learn that Clinton's staff tried
to keep Clinton away from pretty wimmin.(p. 92) In fact,
Clinton seems to have opposed the transfer of Lewinsky
to the Pentagon out of the White House, but his staff
would not cooperate.
One ruling class persyn summed up the relationship
between looks and government power aptly: "Monica being
cursed because she's beautiful."(p. 92) Similar
questions arose when Gary Hart lost his front-runner
status in the Democratic Party's presidential politics
over his contact with a beautiful young womyn while he
was married.
At the time, MIM said that the press coverage implied
that beautiful wimmin should not have interaction with
men in power. In fact, no one caught Gary Hart "in the
act." It was merely his spending time with a beautiful
womyn that was so suspicious to the media. Likewise
there were some wimmin in Clinton's White House who took
the lead in getting rid of Monica Lewinsky - again out
of suspicions.
This is obviously a vicious cycle in which someone
viewed as a sex object cannot escape that status. The
Islamic veil would be superior to this kind of
heterosexual segregation.
Politicization and access to power by wimmin is key to
their liberation and hence overreaction to questions of
sexual motivation at the expense of politics must be
crushed. Just as it is ridiculous for the country to
obsess about Clinton's extramarital life while he is in
charge of a trillion-dollar machine, it is ridiculous
for wimmin and men to obsess about such matters when
they should be running their economy and government.
The only silver lining is that such decadence and
trivial obsessions in the imperialist countries make the
imperialist system less and less fit to rule the
international proletariat. While the status quo seeks to
dodge important issues, the proletariat and its
oppressed allies will forge ahead with their political
consciousness. If the proletariat learns to discredit
psychological smears and persynal attacks in the midst
of political struggle, the Lewinsky scandal will be a
very favorable lesson.
* * *
OPPOSE IMPERIALISM AND BUILD SOCIALIST REVOLUTION!
At the same time as the imperialist International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank were holding their
annual conference in Washington, DC, the DC-RAIL
contingent attended a "50 Years is Enough" rally and
march across the street from the White House. The march
was led by a left-liberal coalition calling for a
democratization of the IMF's policies and decision-
making processes, a change of approach that they think
would both include Third World countries as decision-
makers and lead to their genuine economic development.
But imperialism is not a policy - it's a mode of
production. The IMF will not reform itself to be
anything but an international loanshark, sent by
imperialists into crisis economies to extract high
interest for loans, allow open investment for
international capitalists, and impose devastating
conditions on the monetary policies of Third World
countries. Fifty years is indeed enough - but the end
will come from socialist revolution, not reform of
imperialism.
Congress fights over terms of appropriation
The ruling class in Congress is split between Clinton
and the Democrats on one hand, who want to immediately
appropriate $18 billion to the IMF to "bail-out" Asian
economies, and the Republicans, who want to make the
appropriation contingent upon "lending reforms." The
crux of the reform is the Republican condition that the
IMF "lend" at market interest rates, so that it becomes
more expensive to borrow. They claim this will provide
an incentive for countries to follow sound economic
policies that do not lead to crises in the first place.
But imperialist domination precludes independent
development - and hence the ability to ever fully pay
back the debt. So the fight is over the terms of the
interest. MIM believes, by contrast, that Third World
oppressed nations are owed a giant debt, to be paid as
reparations, by the imperialist countries. And
independent economic development can only happen if
production is organized for internal consumption, rather
than export.
IMF-World Bank meeting sees split over strategy in Asia
First World countries agreed this year (surprise) that
open flow of capital and strict monetarism (the mantra
of the IMF since its inception) remains a good strategy
in the recessed economies of Asia. Representative
bourgeois economists from China, the Philippines, and S.
Korea at the meeting disagreed -- saying that the IMF's
traditional approach only exists to "ensure that
international creditors get their money back." (1)
The IMF is a totally illegitimate international
authority -- a body set up to police the economic
policies of Third World countries so that they remain
hospitable to imperialist investors. That it is
undemocratic and damaging to the development of Third
World economies is its structure -- not something that
can be changed by policy. MIM says, No the IMF, No to
the World Bank, Yes to Socialist Revolution!
Note: Reuters, "Asia cynical on IMF/World Bank" Oct. 9,
1998
* * *
CANDIDATES FOR MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR PROMOTE FAILED
STRATEGIES ON CRIME
October 14--The Republocratic candidates for Governor of
Massachusetts were met with a counter-demonstration at
their debate tonight. The Radical Student Union
organized the demonstration against the candidates
exclusion of students as well as the bankruptcy of the
two party system. The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist
League and MassPIRG also had contingents present to talk
about the failures of the candidates to present logical
responses to crime and the environment, respectively.
RAIL displayed a banner attacking the anti-crime
platforms of both candidates. Signs at the demonstration
said things like "Democracy is the choice between two
rich white guys", "Fuck your two party system" as well
as huge fake ballots with "rich white guy #1" and "rich
white guy #2" on them.
Acting Governor Paul Cellucci is running to retain his
current job, and Attorney General Scott Harshbarger is
running to move up into the top spot. Both of these
swine have overseen huge increases in the Massachusetts
prison machine, including the expansion of torture-cell
control units. Both candidates support hiring more cops
and building more prisons, despite evidence that more
cops and prisons do not affect crime. The system's
politicians ignore the facts, because the way to get
elected is to appeal to the vicious white vote and
capture the attention of potential financial backers so
crucial to any individual campaign's chances. Rather
than admit the flaws of the capitalist system, the rich
blame problems on crime and disease.
Lesser of two evils is still evil
Earlier in the day, one Harshbarger supporter criticized
RAIL's literature for taking on both candidates. This
supporter enthusiastically called on RAIL to vote for,
in his words: "the lesser of two evils." This is another
of those bourgeois myths used to justify the system. The
rich call on the poor to "pull themselves up by their
bootstraps", which is physically impossible. And to vote
for the lesser of two evils leaves you with, well, evil.
A RAIL comrade later made a sign to that effect which
caught the attention of the Libertarian candidate for
Lt. Governor. This candidate said "I like your sign",
shook the comrade's hand and then moved on instantly.
There was no time for the RAIL comrade to reply that
"The lesser of THREE evils is still evil."
The Libertarian Party wants to free all prisoners
incarcerated for drug offenses in order to free up more
room for "real criminals." (Their words, not ours.)
Masses denied access to the debate
The Mullins Center is a huge sports arena on the UMass
campus, but the debate was held in a tiny interior VIP
room that seats only 200 people. A number of tickets
were initially promised to students and then withdrawn.
The Mullins Center is paid for in part by the state
government and in part by a $100 fee all UMass students
pay.
Many students were rightly offended by the fact that the
debate was held on their "home" and yet they were not
allowed to attend.
Not only does it require a tremendous amount of money to
run for office in the first place, but these debates
(like today's) often exclude candidates from parties
other than the Repulicrats and Demopublicans who did in
fact qualify to be on the ballot.
Once the debate got underway inside the Mullins Center,
the Radical Student Union organized a rally outside. At
this rally, representatives from non-Republocratic
political movements spoke. And in true democratic form,
and unlike the carefully packaged Republocrat "debates",
questions from the audience were allowed. RAIL spoke
about the Massachusetts criminal injustice system and
why neither Republocrat party has an interest in
representing prisoners. In fact, those parties are
currently trying to take away the votes of prisoners in
Massachusetts.
The current electoral process in Amerika serves to
disenfranchise people from the limited choices they
currently have in the voting booth. In a socialist
society, political decisions will actually matter to the
people and most will want to get involved. The masses
will have a hands-on role in leading their own affairs
and criticizing their leaders, instead of being preached
at via the one-way medium of television. Important
debates will be held in giant arenas, not in VIP rooms.
MIM calls on all progressives, radicals and
revolutionaries to:
"Don't vote, smash imperialism!"
* * *
FBI WATCH:
PIGS GET GREATER SPYING POWER
On October 8, Congress approved something high on the
FBI's wish-list: expanding wiretapping authority. In the
past, the FBI had to argue to a judge for permission to
tap specific phones. They could only get permission to
tap all phones used by or near the suspect (called a
roving wiretap) if they could demonstrate an intent by
the suspect to switch phones to avoid surveillance. Now
the pigs merely have the tell the judge that the
suspect's "actions could have the effect of thwarting
interception from a specific facility." This change
removes the consideration of motive on the part of the
suspect from the warrant charade.
This is a much easier standard to meet and can be
expected to greatly increase the number of roving
wiretaps granted. According to the bourgeois theory,
judges serve as "checks and balances" upon overzealous
police who would trample civil liberties. But in
reality, the judges and police are on the same side of
the barricades against the masses. If the system was
interested in fairness, the judges would listen to both
sides (police and the defendant) and not conspire
against the masses in secrete. Since judges are not on
the front lines, they often have a larger interest than
the police in maintaining the rationality of the system.
Now this whole charade is a lot simpler because the
rules for wiretaps have been relaxed.
Three years ago the Congress publicly rejected the
expansion; this year's bill was passed without debate or
notice. The provisions were added to a bill in
Conference Committee (where the House and Senate work
out differences in bills passed by each house) during a
closed door meeting. The wiretapping expansion was not
in either bill, but the CongressPigs stuck it in and the
full House and Senate voted for it with no debate.(1)
MIM is not a Civil Libertarian organization. Rather, we
oppose the United Snakes Criminal Injustice system. We
don't want to see the pigs have any additional tools to
use (or misuse) against their enemies: principally the
oppressed and revolutionary.
FBI LAUNCHES NETWORK OF STATE DNA PRISONER DATABASES
On October 13, the FBI launched a network of state
databases of prisoner DNA. The network will match DNA
material from "unsolved crimes" and future "crimes" with
the evidence from the prisoner's DNA.
MIM in this case has to put "unsolved crimes" in
quotation marks to explain that the pigs have a
subjective definition of crime. The importation of drugs
into North America isn't a crime, nor is the U.$.
bombing of Africa's largest pharmaceutical company. The
crimes of the U.$. government and its allied
corporations are far more dangerous than any anything
else that happens in North America.
The database currently has 250,000 DNA samples and 4,600
unsolved cases. Another 350,000 samples from various
states will be online soon.
All 50 states passed laws authorizing the pigs to take
DNA samples from at least some types of prisoners. Not
all states have begun collecting samples, however, and
Massachusetts' law has been recently struck down. A few
states mandate that all prisoners, including those
convicted of white-collar crime, give samples. The
Federal government does not have such a law, yet.(2,3)
FBI SPIED ON MARX
Groucho, that is.
From 1953 through the early 1960s, the FBI kept detailed
files on comedian Groucho Marx. The files were obtained
by a history professor at the University of California,
who had recently won a lawsuit to get a copy of the FBI
files on John Lennon. Requesting Marx's file was "a kind
of shot in the dark." Groucho Marx died in 1977.
Predictably, the FBI is holding back a few pages "in the
interest of national defense or foreign policy." MIM
suspects the pigs want to protect their legions of
informants and/or the information on those pages shows
even more clearly how overzealous the FBI was.
Groucho Marx's crimes? In 1934, he wrote an article in
the then-revolutionary Communist Party paper Daily
Worker, calling the "Communist support for the
Scottsboro boys [Black youth framed for the rape of a
white woman] an inspiration for 'Soviet America'". In
the 1940s, "he attended a benefit concert for Soviet War
relief ... and opposed United Nations recognition of the
fascist government of Spain. He was also a member of the
Committee for the First Amendment, an organization that
opposed the House Un-American Committee and included
among its members Frank Sinatra, Humphrey Bogart and
Lauren Bacall."
And Marx's other crimes? Cracking jokes about the FBI,
the Establishment, and once calling this country the
"United Snakes."
Sounds to MIM like this Marx was a hero too.(4)
Notes:
1. October 9, MSNBC.
2. Boston Globe, 15 October 1998, p. A10.
3. Boston Globe 15 August 1998, p. B1, B8.
4. Boston Globe, 15 October 1998, p. A13.
* * *
REPRESSION OF MASSES IN INDIA'S JAILS
MIM prints the following regarding prison repression in
India to underscore the use of the criminal injustice
system by imperialists world-wide as a tool of social
control. Protests against imperialism are met with
severe repression.
The imperialists will not be convinced to play nicely
with anti-imperialists, the imperialists and their
criminal injustice systems will only be overthrown
through revolutionary violence. MIM fights for Maoist
revolution alongside our comrades throughout the world.
Join the internationalist struggle against the criminal
injustice system within u.s. borders and around the
world.
Growing and Increasing Repressions and Restriction upon
Prisoners' Rights from Warangal jail to Chanchalguda
Jail
A Dalit rickshaw puller, chandramouli died in the
warangal jail on 14-5-98, due to the physical torture of
the Intesar gunj, warangal police and the gross
negligence of the warangal jail authorities. This heart-
rending incident sparked an immediate response among the
general and political prisoners and they undertook an
hunger strike demanding a judicial inquiry; payment of
Rs. Two lakhs ex-gratia to the family of the deceased.
The warangal jail resounded with these slogans.
Instead of solving the problem, the jail authorities who
feel that repression is the only solution to all jail
issues, inhumanly Lathi-charged the prisoners on May 16
1998 who were on hunger strike for three days. For the
first time, 150 civil policemen under the leadership of
warangal town D.S.P. Chandramouli entered the jail and
lathi-charged the general and political prisoners. They
subjected the leading general and political prisoners to
severe physical torture. Blood flew like, water, the
heads of many prisoners were severely injured.
Critically and fatally injured prisoners were sent to
the M.G.M. Hospital. Later 10 political prisoners who
were leading the hunger strike were put into single
cells separately. In order to ensure that news about
this gory incident does not leak out the outside world,
prisoners were not allowed interviews for one week.
The lathi-charge and physical torture was carried out by
warangal jail superintendent Lakshma Reddy and Town
D.S.P. Chandramouli on the instruction of under the
supervision of D.I.G. (Jails) M.R. Alimed, M.R. Ahmed is
a past master in such repressions. In 1986 this same
M.R. Ahmed, was the superintendent of warangal jail and
lathi charged the political prisoners and broke many
heads. Then too, he put santosh (Mahesh) and Purushottam
along with nine other prisoners who were leading the
strike, into single cells. He tried to repress and
suppress the remaining political prisoners. In the
middle of 1986 he was transferred to central prison
Secunderabad.
During 1986 to 1990, become a conniver of the
intelligence police and tried to deny the political
prisoners their rights. He placed severe restrictions on
Nalla Adi Reddy (shyam) and other political prisoners in
the jail.
In protest against the lathi charge in warangal jail and
to stop the deaths of prisoners in jails, the prisoners
of all the jails came forward to join the struggle
requesting concrete and constructive steps to be taken
for the same. Relay hunger strike, four at a time was
started on May 17 1998 in Musheerabad jail and is still
continuing: May 21st was observed as "Lack-day " in all
the state prisons. On May 25th the superintendents
"Request round" was boycotted in protest. On May 26th
the general and political prisoners in different jails
observed mass hunger strikes. Yet, when the government
failed to respond to the problems of the prisoners; the
prisoners of the central jail, chanchaiguda, the female
prisoners of the women's jail and prisoners of other
jails started relay hunger strikes from June 1st. The
general prisoners of the chancaiguda jail have responded
enthusiastically and have started relay hunger strike
from June 3rd at the rate of five prisoners per day. The
chanchaiguda jail is resounding with anti-establishment
slogans.
To date, instead of trying to find solutions for the
prisoner's problems, the government and the jail
authorities are trying to repress and suppress the
prisoners. Mahender Reddy who recently took charge as
the superintendent of chanchaiguda jail is exhibiting
"Police Atrocities" upon the general and political
prisoners of the jail.
When the general prisoners under took a mass hunger -
strike on May 26 1998, the superintendent Mahender Reddy
visited every barrack and threatened the prisoners to
give up their hunger strike. He said that he would not
grant furlough and would not allow them to go on role
and would cut their remissions. He further said that he
would inform the courts stating that the prisoners
behavior was not good and that he had criminal
tendencies and would get them punished. He also
threatened the under-trial prisoners stating that would
see that bails were not granted to them.
The prisoners who were leading the hunger strike were
called individually and threatened with dire
consequences. A general under trial prisoner named
Ravinder Reddy was dumped into the single cell to infuse
fear psychosis among the prisoners, but the
superintendent failed miserably. All the other hundreds
of prisoners responded to this repression by raising
thundering slogans. When all the prisoners demanded the
release of Ravinder Reddy from the single cell, they
were forcibly lock-up. When the political prisoners
demanded the reason for locking up Ravinder Reddy in the
single cell, the superintendent, along with a hundred
security staff raided the barrack of political prisoners
at 8 p.m. He tried to initiate another incident of
lathi-charge upon the political prisoners in
chanchaiguda jail. When the political prisoners refused
to be locked up, until Ravinder Reddy was released from
the single cell, the jail authorities had to give in and
the same night Ravinder Reddy was sent back to his
barrack.
The superintendent in getting the barracks locked-up to
restrict the movements of the prisoners. When grievances
were being told during his rounds, the superintendent is
threatening and intimidating the prisoners. The latest
example for this is the beating of a prisoner for asking
a drinking water pot. Severe restriction are being
placed upon the political prisoners by locking them up,
without an opportunity to visit even the jail hospital.
There exists a rule which allows the prisoners to meet
their families and friends between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.
The superintendent, Mahender Reddy is openly flaunting
this rule and subjecting the prisoners to many problems.
He has introduced his own rule, stating that political
prisoners should meet their interviews (families,
friends and lawyers) only between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. Many
people come to meet at any time during the day, the
family members (from districts) usually come in the
mornings, the lawyers visit according to the
availability of time, but this new rule introduced by
the superintendent is subject everyone including the
political prisoners to various problems.
A situation has arisen wherein, if the lawyers and
family members visit at the same time, the prisoners are
unable to talk to any of them properly, within the one
hour period between 3 and 4 p.m. There are no interviews
for the general prisoners between 1 and 4 p.m. If anyone
comes to meet a prisoner between noon and 1 p.m. They
have to wait until 4 p.m. in the scorching sun.
This superintendent takes the credit for introducing a
rule, which is not there in any manual. He also has the
distinction of being openly known as the corrupt person,
while he was the superintendent of Nellore jail 6 months
ago, where he was the cause of death of countless
prisoners. When the issue was taken up by the Human
rights commission and other bodies he was placed under
suspension. Instead of action being taken against him,
he was promoted and transferred as a superintendent to
central prison, Hyderabad. This shows the concern of the
Chandra Babu Naidu government towards the welfare of the
prisoners.
Just like the much acclaimed democracy in the outside
world, which is corrupt to the core, "jail reformation
and rehabilitation" are just dreams and illusions.
Besides following the now irrelevant 1894 British jail
manual, the same, suppression, repression and oppression
methods are being followed. Even to find out, what the
prisoners rights are according to that manual, it
remains a "Holy book" which is out of reach for
prisoners. Even in our free India, interviews are held
through a mesh. Such are the pitiable conditions in our
democracy. Over crowding, water shortage and Lack of
water, Sub-standard food, lack of proper clothing and
medical facilities, cannot be provided by the government
today.
The endeavors of prisoners and other outside
organizations have resulted in many commissions being
set up and many suggestions being made, over the years,
which have remained as mirages. Even the demands agreed
upon during the Jan-Feb. 1995, historical jail struggle,
are not being implemented by the jail authorities.
Prisoners are languishing in jails for periods longer
than what they would have been sentenced to, because of
Lack of escorts to take them tot he courts. Paroles and
furloughs are being availed and enjoyed only by rich
prisoners with so influence. The reconstitution of the
Advisory Board for release of prisoners is no where in
sight. Repression, punishment and torture are common for
prisoners who ask for their rights, the conditions have
worsened to such an extent that civil police is entering
prisons and subjecting prisoners to various atrocities.
Prisoners are remanded to jails are being subjected to
brutal third degree methods. Lack of proper medical
facilities and medical diets is resulting in the death
of countless prisoners. The deaths in jails and Lock-ups
are on par with "encounter". The ruling classes and the
media raised hell on the death of industrialist Rajan
pillai, in Tihar jail. But, now when Dalit and poor
prisoners are dying regularly in jail, there is not a
wimp from any quarters.
In spite of the supreme court ruling and orders that
prisoners are not to be handcuffed or fettered, those
are being violated openly by the police and prison
authorities. They are forcibly begin hand cuffed while
being taken to courts and hospitals. It had been decided
to place a complaint box in jails, to enable the
prisoners to lodge their grievances to the sessions
court. But, to date, such complaint boxes are nowhere to
be seen. Thus, every jail is enmeshed in a web of
problems. For the solution of long-standing problems and
for the implementation of demands agreed upon; and
because of the covert and overt, repression, suppression
and oppression of prisoners, jails are yet waiting for
their deliverance and are yet struggling.
Appeal to all :
We appeal to people of all walks of life to support and
help the general and political prisoners of several
jails who are struggling for the following demands.
1. Concrete and constructive step should be taken to
halt jail deaths. The next of kin of the prisoners who
die in jail should be paid an exgratia of rupees two
lakhs.
2. Special medical escorts to be maintained in every-
prison. To be stationed, with in reach, 24 hours of the
day.
3. Judicial inquiry by a sitting High Court Judge, into
the death of the genearl prisoners Chandra Mouli, in
Warangal jail.
4. Immediate suspension of D.T.G. (Jails) M.R. Ahmed,
Warangal jail superintendent Lakshma Reddy and Town
D.S.P. Chandramouli, who were responsible for the Lathi-
charge in Warangal jail.
5. Ban of entry and interference by civil and
intelligence police in jail affairs.
6. Provision of basic minimum amenities, Implementation
of all demands agreed upon by JACDR and Government, jail
authorities.
Because of the economic policies of the government which
are leading the bankruptcy and because of the obstinate
and adamant attitude of the jail authorities and because
of the repression methods, jail are degenerating day by
day. Only the dalit, poor and political prisoners are
the long staying prisoners in jails. Once in a blue
moon, the rich and politicians cross the threshold of
jails but, the very next day they are admitted into
super specialty hospitals at government expense. This
truth is known to one and all. Because of the support
from people of all walks of life, the 1995 Jan-Feb
prisoners struggle succeeded in securing many of their
demands. Many of those demands are being implemented as
rights. Hundreds of long term prisoners can be released.
In the same manner we appeal to various mass
organizations, Dalit Associations, womens organizations,
various parties, Human rights organizations, lawyers,
ex-convicts, democrats, writers, poets, artists,
intellectuals, journalist and editors, to support the
peaceful on-going struggle in prisons by the general and
political prisoners.
We appeal that the outside public be made aware of the
problems of the dark world of the prisons and the
struggle of the prisoners. We appeal for the
highlighting of prisoners problems, the repressive
atrocities of jail authorities through writings,
signature campaigns, meetings, speeches, poems and
discussions, focusing of prison and prisoners.
On behalf of All General and Political
Date: June 15 1998 Prisoners
Place: Central Prison, Hyderabad - 24.
* * *
UNDER LOCK & KEY:NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS
Unify the energy and efforts of prisoners
Dear Comrades,
I received your form letter sent out proposing the
creation of a mass organization of anti-imperialist
prisoners. I must say I am elated to know that MIM is
trying to unify the energy and efforts of prisoners
struggling against oppression within the confinements of
Amerikkka's Koncentration Kamps. It is my belief that
these "pigs" only get away with their repressive ways
because the lack of unified struggle. It is also a
proven fact that it is harder to control the masses when
they stand together for one common cause.
With that said, now I would like to address a few of the
issues mentioned in the proposal. First, general
goals/campaigns: I believe the mass organization should
try to adopt a program somewhat like MIM 10 point
program of the Black Panthers'. (but not the exact
program).
One goal the mass organization can have is spreading
revolutionary material and holding study groups by
engaging in conversations which will strike the interest
of the people (prisoners) then feeding off their
interest and turning them on to the mass organization.
The need for oppressed people to become revolutionary
conscience is great. It is absolutely critical, the
events of repression will increase drastically in the
near future. It is a necessity for oppressed people to
learn the "snake"-like ways and actions of this
government and its arms of in-Justice system.
Also, a campaign against censorship. New York State
Department of Incorrection will not allow any anti-
government material. But my argument is communism is a
form of government. Just because its not the form of
government which the United "Snakes" uses does not
qualify it to be labeled "anti"-government.
Another topic to consider is helping the brothers learn
how to fight the system. It is becoming harder and
harder to get out of jail. This is especially for those
who do not know the law. The mass organization can help
the brothers learn what the system can and cannot do. By
exposing every flaw, loophold, and inconsistency know,
what will happen is prisoners would be stronger when
opposing the system by attacking the weak spots.
Second: I would like to address the name issue. I agree
with MIM about not using Revolution or Liberation,
because this will give the administration of "pigs"
something to pinpoint when retaliating against the mass
organization. We don't want to give them anything which
can be used against the prisoners. The mass organization
must stay within the legal boundaries.
Third: The reports on material conditions is an
excellent idea. The Under Lock and Key section of MIM
Notes has done a very good job presenting the "pigs'"
abuse of authority, but there are a lot more cases which
are not spoken about. Due to the fact a lot of prisoners
are unaware of MIM Notes or refuse to take the time to
write MIM to have their problems published in MIM Notes.
But the mass organization can form a way to document the
daily problems, the struggles against censorship as well
as the outcome of such and the construction of special
housing units Š as well as many uprisings and
demonstrations taking place in various prison kamps
through Amerikkka.
Fourth: I will like to address anonymity. It is my
belief that this can go both ways. For the most part it
will be best for the comrades to remain anonymous. It
will be of no help to members of the mass organization
for the administration of "pigs" to know who they are
individually. In fact, it will cause more harm than not
if they do know. Any organization unauthorized by the
administration is considered to be gang related, and is
subjected to disciplinary action. I do not believe the
majority of koncentration kamps will give consent to the
prisoners to form a mass organization united to fight
repression and imperialism. This will be counter-
productive on their behalf unless they are allowed to
infiltrate and control the progress of the peoples'
movement they will always fight to surpress it. Whether
its inside or outside of these indoctrination kamps. And
being that this is a prisoners' mass organization, the
"pigs" have more rules and regulations to govern the
people with. This is why I feel strongly about
maintaining anonymity.
But in those cases where work needs to be done for a
specific comrade, then it should require the consent of
that comrade. For it will be made known to him to
possible problem he might come across for that single
act. This situation can be kept at a minimum because the
mass organization should only fight winnable battles
above surface. Even though under the surface we can be
looking for ways to make the majority of the battles
winnable.
And last, but not least, leadership I myself will step
up to be a leader in any field my qualifications are
needed. At this moment I am being held captive (lock-up
while being locked up) 24 hours a day. So, I am unable
to accomplish a lot of things needed. But due to the
fact I am locked down 24 hours a day, I have nothing to
interfere with my reading and writing for the next three
years. I will willingly devote my time to researching
the topics which will be presented by the comrades
within the mass organization. I will also use my time to
help anywhere else I might be needed. The law library in
my kamp is pretty sufficient plus I own a Jailhouse
Lawyer manuel so I can help gather information
pertaining to law.
-- a New York Prisoner, September 1998.
New Jersey Prison System is Sinking
This is coming at you live from the dusty (Trenton State
Prison) and on behalf of all the brotha's sista's caged
up in this house of pain. I want to give it to you live,
raw and uncut concerning the conspiracy here in New
Jersey Department of Correction to put us back on the
chain gang.
We are living in the most critical period in the State
of New Jersey Department of Corrections history. New
Jersey is being run by Slave Masters. That Governor and
new Commissioner of D.O.C., are Slave Masters in 3 piece
suits who only concern us keeping you locked up for
longer periods of time, and not giving you the tools
that will enable you to make a productive transition
back into society. That is if you're lucky or fortunate
enough to get back out. These slave masters want us to
come back to jail so they will have jobs, and be able to
send their children and grand children off to college at
our expense. Plus go on long vacations, buy all the real
estate, and live a glamorous lifestyle off the blood,
sweat pouring from our backs!
As New Jersey Prison System (DOC) prepares to make a
change, she is seen searching for new solutions to her
plethora of problems. Every aspects of this system is
suffering. The prisons are full to its capacity with
younger/much older prisoners. Many who are never going
to see the streets again. Her education programs has
been reduced to nothing. Maintaining the health of the
prisoners has proven too costly, forcing her to reach
out and get an inferior CMS privatized contract to cater
to the inmate population. We're forced to pay 5 dollars
to see a nurse or doctor, and plus pay for whatever
medication you received.
A lot of prisoners' medical needs are being neglected
and the death rate is climbing as a result of this new
CMS medical staff. AIDS, T.B., and other diseases are a
constant threat to us everyday in this mad house.
Prisoner v. prisoner violence is rampant, their sense of
priority seems to have been lost. Killing each other
over a few packs of cigarettes, a basketball game, a bag
of drugs, a seat in the mess hall, or over weights in
the yard.
The hole (lock up) is filthy and nasty and infested with
nuts (crazy men on medication) who are forced to lock in
a cell with no bed, no mattress, no sink or running
water on the flats. They must scream and beg the pig to
come down and turn the water on so he can flush his
toilet or bring in a cup of water in this 104 degree
weather.
Police brutality has skyrocketed in here. Prisoners
handcuffed are being jumped and beaten into a pulp, and
no one is doing anything about it. They're taking away
our food packages from the outside. Food from home to a
man who is never going to see streets against is the
closest link to him holding on to his mama or loved ones
special touch.
They're taking away all personal clothes and sneakers
and books, replacing them with all khaki attire and
state boots, state no frill sneakers. All white
everything (boxers, socks, bathrobe, and T-shirts) not
other colors are allowed. Seems a bit extreme,
especially when they're not going to give us bleach to
keep these white garments clean.
November last year (1997) they took our rights, our
families' rights to make a collect phone call. We can no
longer make a phone call in privacy or at a cheaper
rate. They're subjecting our calls to recording,
listening and monitoring. The prison is divided with
some wings using the phone and some aren't but the so-
called struggle or solidarity bond been broken. That
telephone is our only direct line of communication we
have to the outside world... ...Our regular
toothbrushes have been replaced with a new security
toothbrush that is not big enough for a five-year old to
use. It's a health code violation because you are forced
to stick your finger all the way in your mouth. God
forbid if you happen to let the tiny toothbrush slip and
go down your throat. It would be surely sudden death.
As of April 22, 1998 a new Zero Tolerance Drug/Alcohol
policy has been put into effect, which will not only
effect prisoners but also his loved ones and friends as
well. If you're caught with drugs or alcohol, or given a
urine test and it comes back positive, or you refuse to
submit to a urine test, you are subjected to lost of
contact visits for a year. The second violation of these
new rules, your visits will be taken indefinitely. Your
privilege to have a contact visit with you people
shouldn't be measured by what you do as a prisoner
inside one of these slave camps. Your visitors ...are
being punished too. It ain't like we have conjugal
visits here in New Jersey.
Now as of July 20, 1998, they're claiming, in accordance
with Public Law 1997, Chapter 396 (S2082), all
institutions under the control of the New Jersey D.O.C.
will begin collecting a surcharge of 10% of the sale
price of everything sold through the Inmate Commissary.
This will fall under V.C.C.B. (Victims of Crime
Compensation Board). But what about the prisoners who do
not have a violent crime, why are they being taxed? What
we have here is called highway robbery. First the court
is forcing us to pay fines and penalties to Victims of
Crime, and now the DOC is forcing us to pay them too.
We're only paid $1.20 a day, if that much, for our
prison labor. But when we asked for a state pay raise to
help combat the constant rise in commissary prices, they
are quick to say that they have no control over it and
we must write to the legislator.
They'd rather give us yard twice a day, instead of
giving us more time and access to the Law Library. Good
jailhouse paralegals are almost on the endangered list
in these slave camps. The few we do have left are
constantly under the threat of being shipped out to
another state if they try to do too much on behalf of a
prisoner or general population.
I need you to support the struggles of prisoners as they
oppose the unjust prison system that targets prisoners
with harassment and brutality. The inadequate access to
legal resources, poor medical treatment, just to name a
few. All of the above inhumane conditions in these
prisons are all methods of war, which we are fighting
against in solidarity with you.
A clenched fist salute to all brotha's and sista's
imprisoned in New Jersey Gulags.
_ A New Jersey Prisoner, 28 July 1998
_
Maryland Brutality
...Comrade the pigs here oppress, repress and suppress
us so much that it doesn't make any sense at all. The
pigs here will put you in this three piece
[contraption], which is leg shackles, handcuffs and this
black box with a chain around your waist. Then put you
in your cage for 24 hours or more and will not take them
off. Then sometimes they beat you in your head a few
times with a nightstick or flashlight and refuse you
medical treatment, whatsoever. But they say that's
legal....
-- A Maryland Prisoner, 24 September 1998
5%ers continue to struggle in South Carolina
Here's the deal with our lawsuit pertaining to the
nation of Gods & Earth (5%) here in Slave City (S.C.).
The defendants have given in to letting us keep our
literature on lock-up once you have been designated as a
(5%). They agree in short that this ban violates our 1st
amendment (right) of the constitution (Freedom of
Religion). I say this to our best effect, if they agree
to this, they agree that we, the nation of Gods & Earth
(5%,) are a religion!!! Now that this has happened we
can finally appeal the decision that the judge ruled
against us on last year. Strongly feel my brothers who
are suffering hold your head. We will find peace!!
--A South Carolina prisoner, 16 September 1998
Prisoners Beaten for Blood
Well today the SCDC [South Carolina Department of
Correction's] staff/security came around to every
prisoner and just literally took our blood whether we
submitted or not. I mean we don't have any type of
privacy whatsoever! The blood work was to test for
HIV/AIDS. And there was no refusal whatsoever.
At one time a prisoner could refuse, but now Michael
Moore will get it any way he can. I have seen more blood
spilled on the floor than would fill up one tube! The
correctional beasts (c/o's [correction officers]) were
having a ball while they were beating prisoners down
just to get what they wanted.
I know this has to be some sort of violated act of this
so-called constitutional amendment of Amerikkka, but
what can we do? If a person doesn't want to know if he's
positive or negative, that's his/her prerogative.
I remember reading MIM Notes (beginning of this year
/end of last year), Under Lock and Key and the Comrade
stated that we are laboratory mice in a big ass
laboratory, just being used for experiments. Next they
will say we do not have the right to live. But the only
logical reason for this HIV/AIDS this is to get a higher
budget for an AIDS Fund, and in the end whoever is in
need will receive the same old generic products...
-- A South Carolina Prisoner, 24 July 1998
South Carolina Brief
...As of June 24, 1998 the South Carolina DOC
[Department of Corrections] began censoring all general
outgoing and all incoming mail. No longer can we write
brothers who have been shipped to other institutions
around the state. The prisoncrats are still in the blind
with the materials you provide. But when the snakes get
word from their brothers in other states they will
inform us of their disapproval, but now it's cool.
...Labor Sucks! 55% of the population works for free.
The other 45 % still falls under the policy 8 cents per
hour. We work 8 to 12 hour days, five days a week. We
pay for mail and all commissary items plus restitution
for any damages we do. We don't have to pay for any
medical care of medicine, yet that's probably going to
be changing soon....
-- A South Carolina Prisoner, 29 June 1998
Pigs Plant Drugs on Latino Prisoner
I would like to share an incident that took place on
8/29/98. When recreation is called in this Facility, my
regular everyday thing would be my most favorite thing,
watching some TV. But on that day, it was a living
nightmare for me. While watching TV... I sat down and
waited for the facility movie to come on. When the movie
began everything seemed to be fine.
[Then] two officers approached me and ordered me to
comply with a pat frisk. When I stood up from my seat,
the CO W. Burn performed his pat frisk. I thought that
maybe it was a regular routine being that these officers
do this for a living. But it wasn't a regular routine at
least not for them, it wasn't.
When W. Burn finished his pat frisk, another officer by
the name of J. Edwards approached me and stated "I seen
what you dropped on the floor." I asked, "What is it
that you seen me drop officer?" He said a pack of
cigarettes containing 36 bags of a controlled substance.
At first, I laughed because I thought they were only
playing. But when he showed me the drugs, I told him
that wasn't mine, you are framing me. I never in my
entire life thought that someone or anybody would ever
frame me with drugs, especially in prison.
However, they placed me in a special housing unit (SHU)
where I awaited the outcome to this living nightmare...
In my entire life I never thought anything so meaningful
(sic) and so corrupt would ever destroy my entire life.
These officers, W. Burn and J. Edwards, are lying about
me having drugs in my possession. The truth to this
matter is I was framed by both officers. I do have one
officer claiming to see me not dropping anything or
holding any pack of cigarettes... What makes me so
afraid is that even with all these witnesses and I still
got charged with two years in the box. The captain who
held my hearing also claims to know who the drugs belong
to and still he charges me with the drugs.
I would like very much for your newspaper to add my
story ... In my entire life I never held anything from
anyone or my family. But in this case, I'm afraid to
explain my outcome to this beautiful family of mine.
It's hard enough to have 7 months to go home, then tell
them that their brother, son, etc isn't coming home any
time soon because he was framed. As a person with
nothing but kindness and caring for his family, I prefer
they wouldn't know. But as a Latin American, my dignity
as a person was disrespected by the staff and if I have
to make a choice to fight back, it would be a punishment
they never had. They violated me and gave me something
to think about for a long time, which is a sadness and
misleading punishment toward me.
--A New York prisoner, 10 September 1998
Gulags Consider Study Group Unauthorized
Revolutionary greetings,
Comrades at MIM, I am writing to inform you that I have
been receiving MIM Notes without any problems. I have
also set up a study group here in this kkkamp, but it is
somewhat on the covert-side, being that most information
discussed and received by MIM are considered anti-
government. A study group dealing with such material is
unauthorized organizational activity and labeled as
"gang related".
I've also been corresponding with various OG's from the
Brotherly Love Overrides Oppression and Destruction
(Blood) organization. I've been trying to correct their
theories on the social conditions of the colonized
ghetto's youth.
It seems that the Bloods are the fastest growing
organization in the New York State (in)correctional
system, as well as the most feared. My goal is to
redirect their energy. Instead of fighting a horizontal
war with other oppressed people, they should educate
themselves as well as those of other oppressed
organizations and fight on the side of the proletarian
struggle. We should harvest the energy of the youth and
prepare for the massive thrust in vertical direction
against the oppressor....
-- A New York Prisoner, 15 September 1998
Pig Harass Study Group
To My Beloved Comrades: MIM
Right now I'm currently being held at one of the most
dehabilitating and dehumanizing Koncentration Kamps in
Maryland, whose main objective is to destroy the minds
of its captives, leaving them mentally deficient. A
group of comrades have come together and tried to
administer to the disease our people are suffering from.
We propagate truth accurate information that'll liberate
the minds of our people. We overstand that our people
are bond in psychological handcuffs and for them to be
free, knowledge of self is the only key. We are not
Anti-White, but we are anti-white supremacy, and anti-
kapitalism. Our main target is the youth of our race and
furnishing them with an Afro-centric thought pattern, as
opposed to a Euro-centric thought pattern. We give these
young brothers/sisters revolutionary love and dedication
for the total liberation of Black people globally. This
includes spiritually, physically, politically,
culturally and economically.
I'm writing to you to expose the very nature of this
prison. We do not involve ourselves in any illegal acts
and members of our organization will not indulge in any.
All we have done is re-educate the mis- educated, and
train these young brothers to become spiritual warriors.
Youths in Maryland who were once considered to be the
most dangerous in the state are being revolutionized in
thought enabling them to go back out into society to
fight for the betterment and upliftment of their people.
However, since officials in this Koncentration Kamp
found out about our existence, we have been attacked and
mistreated. We have never spoken about riots, so they
can't use that to justify this mistreatment. There are
gangs inside the Koncentration Kamps, so this is what
they use to justify this harassment. The thing is, they
know that we don't indulge in those types of activities.
Furthermore, the pigs have forcibly taken all of our
organizational papers. These papers explain what we are,
our mission, as well as rules and regulations. It's a
very organized movement and they have the papers and
know that all our actions are not contrary to who we
profess to be. They know that we're not a gang, but they
insist on stigmatizing us to further this harassment.
This is a very racist prison.... Out of 44 prisoners in
this isolation unit, only six are white. At least 15 of
us are not being charged or convicted of braking any
prison rules. Under prison rules, since we are not
charged or convicted of breaking any prison rules, we
are entitled to recreation and showers once a day, all
of our private property, access to the phones, and
access to the legal and educational library. However,
myself and fellow comrades are allowed only 2 very short
showers a week. We are not allowed a regular toothbrush,
instead we have a plastic ring with bristles that fits
over a finger. Most of our property has been taken or
lost. We find bugs and spit in our food. Are mail is
being censored.
Certain officials make racial remarks, "You niggers are
in our neck of the woods!", "You'll never make it to
Afrika from here." When we write ARP's (Administrative
Remedy Procedure) it never makes it to the warden. If it
does he dismisses it. We need support to end this
injustice and we call on your organization to help us
end it....
-- A Maryland Prisoner, 5 August, 1998
Oppressed Nations Segregated in New York
My cellie and I are here in the SHU [Segregated Housing
Unit]. Not only are we subjected to racism. Now they
want to tell us that we are not allowed hardback books
anymore. Even though most of the brothers are trying to
strengthen the mental powers. These pigs will try
anything to hold us back. Most of the books we request
from the library are hardback.
Also there aren't any white prisoners on our side of the
block. It is completely segregated, which is not a
problem. But things don't have to pose a problem to be
wrong. Most of us down here are awaiting transfer, but
for some reason brothers have been down here waiting six
to ten months. This treatment is completely immoral and
inhumane.
...Brotha's and Sista's it's time for us to unite. We
are only as strong as our weakest link....
-- Two Pennsylvania Prisoners, 12 September 1998
CENSORSHIP NEWS
Pigs Censor Wisconsin Brutality Article
...Comrades, July 15th's publication ran an exposure on
brutality in Wisconsin at the Racine Correctional
Institution. I'm telling you, don't think for a second
that these KKKlowns do not keep an eye on the "Under
Lock and Key" portion of MIM Notes.
This imperialist intercepted, NOT the paper, ONLY the
article. In it's place, and so neatly fitted in, was a
plainly typed note that read, "Nobody loves you and
nobody cares," an smiley face wearing a Wisconsin
Department of Corrections cap. I know it was the article
of how these imperialistic bastards beat me and strapped
me down to a bed -- in another Wisconsin Unit.
But out in general population another brother gets the
MIM Notes. His was not censored. So the grapevine was
juicy because isn't frequent that good-ole Wisconsin
gets exposure....
-- A Wisconsin Prisoner, 20 July 1998
Censorship Problems in Pennsylvania
...We are experiencing a great deal of problems in
receiving your conscious-expanding newspapers,
newsletters and magazines in a number of Pennsylvania
Prisons. Specifically those prisons which are located
near or around rural townships, where the prison
employee workforce is 99.5% white. We are continuously
being denied access to your publications on frivolous
grounds. We are unable to challenge the official
arrogance of the disapproval, as we've never received
the publication to begin with.
...To file a grievance complaint is also a pointless
effort, due to the fact that the (RRC) Reading Review
Committee Chairman is also the Grievance Coordinator and
the Superintendent's Assistant. Therefore we have no
other recourse but to bring this matter back to you to
seek your assistance in dealing with this serious
matter.
Not only are these biased people denying us the First
Amendment rights of this country. They are also refusing
to reimburse the inmates who paid for the subscriptions
to those publications which the institution is not
allowing them to receive. They're confiscating
publications at the front door!, withholding them for a
month, then sending us a pink disapproval slip a with a
check marking the alleged reason for disapproval. More
often [literature is refused] because of something they
disliked on some page of the publication.
It should also be noted that magazines on how to hunt
down Bambi, kill him and slice him up into sections is
permitted without any problems. So are Field and Stream,
Guns and Ammo catalogs, Soldier of Fortune, and Rifle
magazines. All or any publications which fit the script
of the surrounding rural white townships. Prisoners of
war kamps located in or near these like minded townships
are overcrowded with young and elder Blacks and Latinos
from urban cities who make up 82% of these prison
populations in Pennsylvania. Where the employee
workforce is 99.5% white. So porn magazines and any type
of literature, which they approve of the savage images,
is a permissible publication according to their mental
standards.
I can't speak for the 200,000 plus incarcerated inmate
citizens in these POW kamps across the country. Those
sista's and brotha's have a voice of their own. However,
I can speak for myself! I could care less about how to
hunt down, shoot, kill, slice, dice and fry Bambi up for
a family meal. What I do care about is having the
freedom to choose to read any political or educational
books, magazines, newspapers, etc. which I deem will
elevate my social and political consciousness.
I have tried. WE have tried to appeal this matter at the
Department of Corrections level. All to no avail. The
only recourse I have left is to appeal the matter to you
the people to assist us in securing the right to choose
and read the materials which contribute to our conscious
growth needs.
We cannot allow this beast to completely cut off our
communication link with the outside world. Your help and
assistance is needed to combat this serious issue.
Yours in Revolutionary solidarity and struggle,
-- A Pennsylvania Prisoner, 10 June 1998
Letters of Protest can be sent to: Superintendent, State
Corrections Institution, Drawer K, Dallas, PA 18612-0286
Victory Against Censorship
Dear MIM,
I just wanted to report that I used your advice in
fighting prison censorship and it worked! The
Headquarters in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania ordered this
KKKamp's administration to give me any and ALL
literature from MIM Distributors.
Today I received the Black Panther Book, four MIM Notes
newspapers and a MIM Theory magazine.
The Struggle Continues! Thanks from the Heart,
-- A Pennsylvania Prisoner, 6 September 1998?
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